“On it.”
Ben broke every speed law on his way out of the city. He raced down Highway 101. By the time he hit Redwood City, he knew exactly where to find Kate. The pulsing red dot on the map on his phone sat right on top of Margo and Donald’s address. Ben’s mind sprouted one nightmare after another. He prayed he got to them in time.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
KATE BARELY MADE it out of the car without passing out on the garage floor. She stumbled into Margo’s kitchen, desperate to find a way to get Alex out of Christina’s clutches.
“Figure it out yet?” the woman taunted. She leaned against the counter with Alex held carelessly in one arm, the gun in her free hand.
Christina pulled off her sunglasses and tossed them on the table. She pulled the blond wig off next.
“That you’re jealous of my sister and that Donald loved her and not you that you ordered your son to kill them, then you set the fire at Haven House. It’s so easy to figure it out.”
“Hard to prove though, isn’t it?” Christina smirked. “You didn’t have the good sense to die in that blast. That damn do-gooder saw me leaving and ran in after you. Now, we’re here. This time, you won’t walk out of here alive.”
“Are you out of your mind? You’re never going to get away with this.”
“Yes, I will. I always get what I want. It’s the one thing I learned about having money. You can pretty much buy your way out of anything.”
“You can’t buy your way out of killing an innocent baby.”
“Oh, honey, I didn’t kill him. You did.”
Kate’s vision blurred, but she made a grab for Alex anyway. A last-ditch effort to take him away from this madness. The world fell away and the last thing Kate knew for sure as her head thumped on the floor was that she hadn’t saved her son, and she’d never see Alex and Ben ever again.
“WHAT THE HELL did you do?” Evan slammed the door behind him and stared at his mother, taking in the blond wig draped over the couch, the baby sleeping against a pillow in the corner of the sofa, and Kate leaning heavily to the side in a chair, her hands tied behind her back. Blood soaked the front of her shirt all the way down to her jeans. An angry red splotch marred the side of her head.
“Me? What the hell were you thinking letting someone take a picture of you nearly naked?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re wanted for questioning in your father’s murder because some girl took a picture of you that showed the scar on your leg.”
Mandy. Damn that stupid bitch. He bet Kate paid her to do it. She was fun in the sack and out, but he couldn’t believe she’d sell him out like this.
“That’s circumstantial. They don’t have anything, since you fixed it that the blood on the knife didn’t match me.”
“She didn’t fix anything for you. She lied.” Kate’s head bobbed as she tried to sit back.
“Shut up.” His mother smacked Kate in the side of the head. It snapped back. Kate couldn’t bring her head forward again.
“Did you shoot her?” He couldn’t believe his mother would do such a thing.
“There was no other way. She knows how to fight. I couldn’t take any chances.”
“But you brought her here? Are you crazy?”
“She’s devastated by her sister’s death. Grief can make you do stupid things, like smother your baby and take your own life.”
“Yeah, that explains why I shot myself in the shoulder.” Kate let out a derisive snort. “She’s lying to you, Evan.” The words came out slurred and barely more than a whisper. He feared she’d die right before his eyes. “She brought you here to pin this on you.”
“Shut up.” His mother turned her hard gaze on him. Her eyes filled with pleading. “We’re so close to having everything.”
“I thought you were going to take the settlement. I told you to take it. This has gone too far.”
“And let that bitch and this baby have everything? Never.”
“You’re actually going to kill my brother?”
“He’s not your brother,” Kate mumbled.
BEN GOT STOPPED at the end of the street by the police roadblock. Sam grabbed him before he tried to wrestle his way through five cops to run up the street to save Kate.
“Ben, wait.” Sam fisted his hands in Ben’s shirt and held tight even when Ben pushed against him to get to Kate.
“She’s in there with both of them. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me—you want me to wait?”
“Listen to me, man. They’ve got a sniper on the roof next door. Christina and Evan are both in there. They have Alex and Kate. We have to handle this carefully. You don’t want them to hurt Kate and Alex.”
“How is she? Did that bitch shoot her?”
An ambulance pulled up. The police moved aside to let it park inside the police line. At the front. Where they could get to Kate fast.
Ben swallowed the lump in his throat.
“She’s in bad shape. Alex appears to be fine.”
“I need to get them out of there.”
“SWAT is coming up with a plan.”
“SWAT! Are you crazy? You want to have bullets flying with a baby in the middle of everyone, not to mention Kate. No. Make them let me go in there. I can talk to Evan and Christina. I can make a deal. They want the money. I’ll make them believe Kate and I will give it to them.”
Sam grabbed him tighter. “I’m not letting you walk right in there.”
“We’ll go in the back. You cover my ass.”
“You have no training for talking down lunatics.”
“Morgan said she’s meant for me. She’s mine. I want her back. It doesn’t end like this.”
“Shit.” Sam ran over to the group of SWAT officers and spoke fast. After a lot of head shaking and some yelling, Sam came back with a bulletproof vest. “Take off your shirt and tie and put this on. We don’t want them to see it. Put your jacket back on over all that.”
Ben did as Sam said. Sam pulled the gun from his holster and held it at his side. “We go in through the side door to the garage. Evan’s Range Rover is in the driveway. The Mercedes must be in the garage. Let’s hope they kept the inside door unlocked and we can walk right in and take them by surprise.”
Ben started walking toward the house.
Sam caught up and swore under his breath. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.”
“You know it’s the best way. You and Tyler are always talking about how it’s not the size of the force but the smarts of the man inside.”
Sam grimaced and tilted his head. “Yeah, well, let’s hope you’re smarter than them.”
Ben grinned, confident he had the upper hand. “Oh, I am. I know something Evan doesn’t know. It will turn him against his mother.”
“That might not be the best way to go,” Sam pointed out.
Ben tried to hold back his doubt and think about how this could all go wrong in a second. “It’s our only hope of ending this thing.”
“WHAT DOES SHE mean I’m not Alex’s brother?” Evan asked his mother, knowing the answer but hating what it meant.
His mother waved her hand. “She’s babbling, trying to turn you against me.”
“You should listen to Kate.” Ben stepped into the room. His fucking nemesis. The one man who’d stop at nothing to take Evan down.
Evan glared at Ben. “Where the hell did you come from?”
Ben held out his hands to his sides. “I came for Kate and Alex.”
“How do you know I’m not Alex’s brother?”
“The DNA test of the blood on the knife came back a familial match to your mother, but not Donald.”
“Shut up,” his mother yelled, shaking the gun at Ben.
“Let them go, and I’ll give you the fifty million your mother asked for.
”
“You refused my offer. This is what happens when you’re greedy.”
Evan stared at his mother, wondering when the irony of her statement would hit home. It didn’t. She held the gun pointed straight at Ben’s chest.
“So, what is the deal?” Ben asked his mother. “You blame this all on Evan. He shot Margo and Donald, now he’s shot Kate. It’s your word against a man who’s already proven he’ll kill his own father to get his inheritance. What about Alex? You going to shoot him too?”
His mother slid the pillow out from under Alex. Startled out of sleep, the baby cried out. His mother put the pillow over Alex’s head and pressed down. The baby kicked his little feet, but he was no match for Christina’s strength.
“Mother, no!”
Ben lunged two steps forward but stopped short when his mother shook the gun at him.
“Stop right there.”
“Mother, don’t do this.”
“Shut up, Evan. It has to be this way.” The baby’s muffled cries grew quieter. “They can’t leave this room alive, or all our plans, all we’ve done, will be for nothing.”
Evan rushed his mother and grabbed the pillow out of her hand. She turned the gun from Ben and pointed it at his chest.
“It doesn’t matter.” Her eyes were filled with a strange brightness and a desperation he’d never seen in anyone. “She’ll be dead soon. We’ll kill the damn lawyer and burn the house down. We’ll be gone before they investigate and discover they’ve been shot. We can leave the country.” His mother wiped her sweaty forehead.
“You’ve really lost it, Mother. It’s over. If you’d left it alone maybe I’d have gotten away with the murders and had my life. Now, after the fire, you kidnapping them, bringing them here to kill them . . .” Evan shook his head, knowing he’d never spend another day free in his life. Hell, he hadn’t been a free man since he killed that man in the alley and she’d helped him cover it up. He’d never suffered the consequences of his actions, except in the form of the nightmares and dark thoughts that haunted him every second. He deserved this fate.
“Don’t you see? I did this all for you. To fix what you screwed up, always fighting and getting hurt. That damn car accident really riled your father. Then the doctors spoke to him. You needed blood.”
Evan traced the long scar down his neck. “Let me guess. He discovered my blood type didn’t match his. The doctor told him I couldn’t possibly be his son, because let’s face it, you like fucking every man who isn’t your husband.” Evan shouted the last, pissed beyond words she’d lied to him his whole life. “Do you even know who my father is?”
“Donald Faraday was your father. He raised you. He loved you. Then he wanted to take it all away. From you. From me!”
“You deserved it. Then you sent me over here to kill them. You wanted me to get caught so you would get everything.”
“No. I didn’t think you’d get caught at all. But with your father out of the way, we’d have all that money. He couldn’t tell us what to do anymore.”
“He wasn’t my father,” Evan shouted, the pain that truth meant ripping him in two. He’d always hated his mother for her lies and manipulations. He’d lived with it because she’d always been good to him, but in reality, he was her biggest lie, used to manipulate a man who’d been too good to her for far too long. She didn’t deserve it. She didn’t deserve anything from his father.
“You knew about his fiancée. Did you know about the baby?”
“What I know is that he had that little brat to replace you. He wanted a child of his own.”
“He loved you, Evan. He h-hated what she d-did, but he l-loved you,” Kate slurred.
“He cut us off. He wanted to set up house with that blond bitch. She made him do it. She got what she deserved.”
“Margo l-lov-ved your f-father, Evan.” Kate didn’t even open her eyes, but still she tried to make him see.
Evan shook his head. “All of this because you were jealous of her,” he accused his mother.
“Jealous. I stood beside him for the last thirty years. I was there for everything he built, and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with that bitch and their son and live happily ever after with my money.”
“It wasn’t your money. He earned it. He worked his ass off to build that company.” Evan spit out the words, wishing she’d get it. “You never loved him. You wanted him to worship you, but still be able to do whatever the hell you wanted with other men. God, how I hate you for manipulating me. I hate myself for being so stupid and taking the bait. You drove him away. Then you drove me to kill him. That’s what I’m going to tell the cops. I did it. I killed them. But you made me do it. I’ll go down for it, but I’m taking you with me.”
The gunshot rang out. He had but a flicker of a second to think past the surprise and reach understanding. His mother wanted him dead so she could blame this all on him. His whole life had led to this moment where all his past deeds came back to haunt him and his mother used them against him.
Evan fell to his knees, blood pumping down his chest. He locked eyes with Ben. “Don’t let her get away with this.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
BEN COULDN’T BELIEVE Christina shot her own son. The cold glare she leveled on him spoke to how far she’d go to finish this and get what she wanted. He glanced at Kate. She had nothing left and leaned heavily on her side. She’d lost so much blood. He hoped she’d passed out again. He prayed she hadn’t died.
Alex sucked on this hand. He’d wedged himself into the back of the sofa. Christina took a step toward Alex.
“The police have this place surrounded. It’s over, Christina. You killed your son for no reason.”
“He did it. He did everything.”
“That’s not true, is it? You hired the man who attacked Kate. You wanted him to kidnap Alex.”
“Without him I get everything.”
“You set the fire at Haven House.”
Christina shook the gun at Kate. “I almost had her that time.” The hysterical giggle sent a chill up Ben’s spine.
“Your plan almost worked this time, setting off the smoke bomb and getting Kate to come with you.”
“All he had to do was kill them, but she turned my son against me.”
“You did that all on your own. Evan may have done some terrible things, but he had a conscience. This was tearing him apart. He didn’t want to hurt anyone else. I don’t think you want to hurt anyone else either.” Ben hoped to turn this all around and calm Christina down before she went too far. She’d stepped into the realm of delusion, thinking she could get away with this. He hoped to pull her back to sanity and reason.
“All I need is that little brat to get out of here.” Christina held the gun trained on Ben and stepped closer to Alex and reached down for him.
Ben reacted without really thinking. He rushed Christina, shoving her back and away from the baby. The gun came up and a flash sparked a second before the bullet plowed into his chest, sending a shock wave of pain radiating through him. She turned the gun toward Kate. Ben caught his balance and pushed himself over Kate, wrapping his arms around her to protect her. Another shot blast echoed. The hit to his back made him jerk. The pain seized control of his body. Unable to hold on to Kate, he fell backward to the ground.
“Ben!” Kate’s scream blasted through his ears.
Christina’s chest bloomed with blood and her head exploded in a violent red spray of blood and brain. Sam and the sniper took her down.
Ben landed on his back on the floor. The slow-motion scene before him erupted into real time as Sam rushed forward to check on Kate, cops flooded the house, and Alex bellowed from the sofa.
A female officer picked up Alex and rushed him from the room. Ben tried to catch the breath that had been knocked out of him from the bullet hitting his vest. Damn, it hurt to breathe
, but he was alive.
“We need a helivac now!” Sam’s words sent a rush of adrenaline through Ben. “Where are the paramedics?”
A pair of medics rushed through the door, carrying their gear.
Ben rolled to his side and managed to get up with the aid of another officer.
“You okay, man?”
“Fine. The vest saved me.”
Sam gently laid Kate on the floor and started chest compressions. “Come on, Kate. Come back to us.”
Ben rushed over and held Kate’s head. He leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Come on, baby, you can’t leave me now. I need you. Alex needs you. Please, honey, come back to me,” he begged.
Kate sucked in a breath. Sam stopped CPR. The paramedics pressed bandages over the bleeding wound and started an IV line.
Ben kissed her head again. “That’s it, baby, hold on. Stay with me.”
“Alex,” she whispered.
“He’s safe. He’s fine.”
“Time for us to go,” one of the paramedics said.
They lifted Kate onto a backboard and strapped her down. Ben stood back helpless as they wheeled her outside. So lost in touching her and watching every rise and fall of her chest to be sure she still breathed, he hadn’t heard the helicopter land in the neighbor’s massive backyard. They loaded Kate and took off without him.
Sam grabbed his arm and pulled him back out to the street and the waiting ambulance. “Get in.”
The medic held Alex. He screamed and cried uncontrollably.
“Is he hurt?” Ben asked, hoping nothing had happened to his son. That’s how he thought of him. Nothing was going to happen to Kate, but if it did, Ben swore he’d be the best father to Alex. He’d be everything she’d want Alex to have in a dad.
“He seems to be fine. Scared. Maybe hungry.”
The female officer who’d taken Alex from the house tossed Alex’s diaper bag into the back of the ambulance. Ben dug through it and found a clean bottle and the formula. Kate always kept a bottle of water inside. He made quick work of mixing the formula. It wasn’t warm, but Alex took the bottle and sucked greedily around his fits of cries and hiccups as he calmed down.
Everything She Wanted Page 29